'Connecticut town drive will collect and destroy violent video games'

I really think this is going too far. Thoughts? But man, if you have some old games from like 2007 sitting around, $25 might not be too bad.

A town in Connecticut is holding a drive to collect and destroy violent games, music, and movies in the wake of the school shooting in Newtown. On January 12th, a community group in Southington will host a "Violent Video Games Return Program," where despite the name, it asks people to turn any types of violent media. In return, Polygon reports that they'll get a $25 gift certificate from the local Chamber of Commerce, and the media itself will be "destroyed and placed in the town dumpster for appropriate permanent disposal," probably by incineration. Given how quickly used games lose value (and the even cheaper cost of CDs and DVDs if the same gift certificates are handed out for everything), that's a surprisingly good incentive.

Agree. While I don't condone government being overly involved and telling us what we can and can't watch/play, we have to find where the line is. What the limit is.

I know I've posted this video before, but in light of these mass shootings (and it seems many are perpetrated by mentally unstable or ill people) I can see where a person with a loose grip on reality can easily confuse a game and real life. This videogame technology is not here yet but it's close.

'Connecticut town drive will collect and destroy violent video games'

This is a weird thing for me. For full disclosure, I'm 40 and have played games my whole life. We had a pong system--not a game, the system. I had a 2600. I now have a 360, ps3 and Wii U. I also own an Alienware. I used to play a lot--now, most games I play are with my kids.

In the past, I thought the idea that games had any effect was silly. After all, I played Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat, logged lots of hours on Rainbow on the original Xbox and never went on a rampage. That being said, I am extremely vigilant about what games my kids play. Why? Because it effects them. I don't know how much. I don't know that it would adversely affect my kids in a meaningful way because I'm a very involved parent, but in my work I know that there is an effect on kids intaking large amounts of violent content. Kids act out what they see. It's why we hear 3 year olds drop F bombs. It's why sexual acting out/play tells clinicians that the kid is likely at least a victim of secondary, if not primary sexual abuse. Kids that watch **** in the home are more sexual. Kids that live in violent homes are more aggressive. Kids that watch violent movies have nightmares and are more aggressive and defiant. Why do we immediately scoff at the idea that violent video games have an adverse effect on our youth--or even on some of the adult population?

We scoff at the idea because it affects us. We don't want to have to give up playing Modern Warfare with our kids because that would affect us. So we explain it away. I've played games all growing up and watched movies etc. I never went on a rampage. But as I've gotten older, I've realized not everyone is like me nor had a family like mine.

I try to be vigilant about what my kids see and hear. I don't always do the best job but I try. As a parent, it just makes you see things differently.

We are all a lot more desensitized than we were 30 years ago and beyond. There was a thread on here last month that contained a news article about a woman that was killed because she denied some teenagers a cigarette. True, she was a bit harsh with them verbally but it didn't warrant them killing her. Yet most replies in that thread were glib. We're talking about someone's life but since no one here knew her, we thought it was okay to make such statements. If it had been one our wives or sisters that had been killed, things would've been different. But since none of us knew her we were detached as if it was someone in an action movie that got killed.

'Connecticut town drive will collect and destroy violent video games'

We scoff at the idea because it affects us. We don't want to have to give up playing Modern Warfare with our kids because that would affect us. So we explain it away. I've played games all growing up and watched movies etc. I never went on a rampage. But as I've gotten older, I've realized not everyone is like me nor had a family like mine.

I try to be vigilant about what my kids see and hear. I don't always do the best job but I try. As a parent, it just makes you see things differently.

We are all a lot more desensitized than we were 30 years ago and beyond. There was a thread on here last month that contained a news article about a woman that was killed because she denied some teenagers a cigarette. True, she was a bit harsh with them verbally but it didn't warrant them killing her. Yet most replies in that thread were glib. We're talking about someone's life but since no one here knew her, we thought it was okay to make such statements. If it had been one our wives or sisters that had been killed, things would've been different. But since none of us knew her we were detached as if it was someone in an action movie that got killed.

Check the Dome thread on gun laws. There's a link to an interview done recently by one of the top experts on teaching soldiers how to kill.